"Fair Game" exposes the high cost of telling the truth in a time of fear

"The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

You remember what happened after that.  Wilson penned that op-ed in the NY Times in July of 2003, three months after the war began, in which he said that he was the source for the CIA verifying that the president's reference to Niger, where Wilson had been sent to investigate the rumor, was untrue.  Three days later at a White House press briefing, press secretary Ari Fleischer (played in the film as a total nincompoop) called the words "incorrect," as did Condi Rice and George Tenet in the days to follow (interestingly, the political fact-checking organization factcheck.org says the "final word on the 16 words may have to await history's judgement).

What isn't in dispute was how conservative columnist Bob Novak, in a column attacking Wilson, outed his wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent.  What the film shows is how Wilson's exposure tragically jeopardized the lives of Iraqi scientists who had cooperated with her and the CIA who were trying to verify information about Saddam Hussein and Iraq's capacities to have weapons of mass destruction.  One such character laughs when asked by his Iraqi sister now living in the states such questions — he says Iraq had gotten rid of such weapons in the 1990s.

The rest is history.  The film depicts Wilson as a true hothead with a massive ego who sought the fight, while Wilson preferred to stay in the shadows.  It also heavily features the only member of the Bush administration to pay any price for going after Plame — Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who was found guilty of several counts of perjury in the investigation by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.  But he was never found guilty of leaking Plame's name.  We also get a few scenes of the man who was once called "Cheney's Cheney," David Addington.

As we ultimately learned in real life (and is revealed in the film's credits) the real leaker, the raison d'etre for the entire investigation, was Richard Armitage. But as it was reported back in 2006, , Armitage revealed her name inadvertently in a casual conversation with Novak, and it is not clear if he knew her identity was classified at the time.

This being a Hollywood production, there has to be a happy ending.  Director Doug Liman depicts this as being the Wilson's becoming united as a family, and with Valerie Plame Wilson agreeing to join her husband in fighting to protect her name.

The ending is quite moving, as Liman cuts from Watts playing Plame testifying before the House of Representatives to the powerful presence of the real Plame doing so via C-SPAN footage.

One light note: Joe Wilson vs. Sean Penn's depiction of Joe Wilson's hair.  In the New York Post, Kyle Smith, one of the most interesting writers around but who unfortunately breaks out his conservative ideology whenever he feels a liberal agenda being offered by a film, mocked Penn (a hated figure amongst the right) for his hair in the film.

Even Valerie Plame herself, living comfortably in New Mexico with her family, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Joe has far better hair than Mr. Penn: